Bourne issues resolution in opposition of vehicle mileage tax

LITCHFIELD (Heartland Newsfeed) — State Representative Avery Bourne (R-Raymond) has signed on as chief co-sponsor of a resolution that voices opposition to a new tax on Illinois motorists being charged per mile traveled.

Bourne is supporting House Resolution 766, which was filed this week in response to new proposed legislation that attempts to penalize drivers with work commutes with new taxes.

Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) proposed the new tax on mileage traveled on public, non-tolled Illinois highways via the utilization of GPS tracking technology. An April 2016 article by Daily Herald writer Mary Hansen states that the sponsor of the new 1.5 cent-per-mile tax wanted Illinois to be the first state in the union to make the changes statewide and that the concept is inevitable. Those opting out of any tracking device installation will pay a flat mileage rate of 1.5 cents per mile for 30,000 miles, or $450. Unfortunately, most Illinoisans don’t drive 30,000 miles a year.

“Previous statements and revived discussions about this new proposed tax has prompted this resolution,” Bourne said in a press release Wednesday. “The vehicle miles traveled tax, or VMT tax, would bring financial burden to Illinoisans and make our state even less competitive.”

Bourne continues to add that rural residents will be hit the hardest due to more miles driven between home and work, which is often in cities like Springfield, Decatur, Mattoon, Charleston, Champaign, Urbana, Vandalia, Effingham and St. Louis among others.

Bourne cites another issue of what’s wrong with the proposed legislation: privacy concerns and Constitutional violations of the Fourth and Fifth Amendment. “The privacy issue is yet another reason that this type of legislation is bad for Illinois,” Bourne said.

A previously proposed plan imposed the same stipulations as Cullerton’s 2016 bill.

Illinois motorists currently pay more than 34 cents per gallon in state and Federal taxes for gasoline.

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Jake Leonard - Jake Leonard is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. He is general manager of Heartland Internet Media Networks, an active contributor to the Nokomis Free Press-Progress/The Morrisonville Times and serves as website administrator for Pana News, Inc. He also serves as chairman of Tri-Counties Libertarian Party, deputy communications director for the Libertarian Party of Illinois and as chairman/co-founder of the Libertarian Party Millennial Caucus.